Here’s What 1000 calories Per Day Can Be. Yum!

1000 calorie diet meal plan

Have you been under the impression that it would be so little food that you’d starve? Think again. Here’s part of what I learned to lose 140 pounds permanently.

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Three great meals — total: under 1000 calories.

When you do the work to plan ahead (one of the Key Behaviors I teach) and learn the other technique I teach, you’ll find you can have plenty of scrumptious food that will fit your “caloric budget”. You’ll find that you can live well on 1000 calories per day and lose weight at a good pace. What’s more important, when you establish the habit patterns of eating the food you like in healthy caloric volumes, you’ll never have a weight problem again. I’ll lay out one day’s menu to give you an idea of how well you can live and lose weight at the same time.

eating 1,000 calories a day

Breakfast: Veggie and cheese omelette with buttered toast and coffee with real cream: 321calories.

This is an omelette I make at least once-a-week. With all the ingredients, even the buttered toast, it’s under 350 calories! That’s a lot less than a Denny’s Slam at over 1200! I’d have it more than once-a-week, but there are too many other good things I make!

I start with a small onion, sliced into rings, 1/4 of a green pepper, sliced, 1/4 of a red pepper, sliced, and a handful of quartered white mushrooms that I cook in a small covered saute pan with a tiny pat of butter, over a low-medium heat. You want the heat low enough so they don’t brown. They really steam in their own juices.

When the onions get limp and translucent, I add in 1/4 cup of egg substitute, like Eggbeaters, and let that continue to cook, covered over the low heat, while I toast the Publix low calorie bread.

I use a bit of Brummel and Brown spread on the toast, and then fold the omelette with 1/2 slice of Kraft fat-free cheddar inside. It’s terrific, and the whole thing is under 350 calories. I love my coffee in the morning, and I mix real half-and-half with fat-free to keep the rich flavor while trimming the calories, using Splenda to sweeten it, and the coffee is only about 30 calories a cup. This breakfast can’t be beat.

  • Onion = 30 c.
  • Pepper = 20 c.
  • Mushrooms = 20 c.
  • Butter = 20 c
  • Egg substitute = 70 c.
  • Cheese = 20 c.
  • Bread = 81 c.
  • Brummel and Brown spread = 20 c.
  • Coffee with cream = 30 c.

1000 calorie diet meal program

For lunch, Joey D’s Chicago Dog: 262 calories.

We are in the habit of lunch at Joey D’s once a week, and their Chicago Dog is a delight, and only 262 calories! They use a real Vienna Beef Hot Dog with a poppy seed bun and all the traditional trimmings: pickle spear, chopped onion, pickle relish, mustard, tomato slice and celery salt. I’ll usually have a Diet Coke with it. At 262 calories, it’s a fraction of what other typical sandwich-type lunches are in restaurants. In one of my other articles, I showed a burger and shake that was 2000 calories! The Chicago Dog seems like a lot, but its all the low calorie condiments that gives it the advantage over the high fat add-ons that others use.

  • Vienna Hot Dog = 120 c.
  • Poppy seed bun = 110 c.
  • Pickle spear = 3 c.
  • Tomato slice = 3 c.
  • Tbs chopped onion = 3 c.
  • Tbs sweet relish = 20 c.
  • tsp mustard = 3 c.

Is the 1000 Calorie a Day Diet Safe?

For dinner, grilled sirloin steak, fresh steamed asparagus and sour cream and chives mashed potatoes: 435 calories.

Many people think you have to give up beef to lose weight. Not true. In fact, one of the secrets of permanent weight loss is getting into the habit of eating everything you like in portions that will keep you at your desired weight for life. The meal above was just delicious, easy to fix, and came in at 435 calories. That brings the day to about 1000 calories, which will cause anyone to lose weight.

The steak is a 5 ounce sirloin. I buy a 2 pound sirloin when they go on sale and cut it into 4–5 ounce servings and freeze them in a gallon Ziplock bag. You can thaw one out when you want it, overnight in the fridge, on the counter for several hours or even in a small sealed Ziplock bag in some shallow room temperature water for 20 minutes or so. Grilling it is easy while the 5 ounces of asparagus is steaming for 9 minutes, and the 1/2 cup of Simply Potatoesmashed potatoes are in the microwave.

The buttery glaze you see on the asparagus is I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray, really adds to the taste and palatability, and only 5 calories for 5 squirts

  • 5 ounce sirloin steak = 270 c.
  • 5 ounces asparagus = 40 c.
  • 1/2 cup mashed potatoes = 120 c.
  • 5 sprays, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter = 5 c.

Losing weight permanently can become easy!

Becoming successful at permanent weight loss takes work, but done right, it can become easy. It’s well worth it, believe me. I’ve maintained my ideal weight for thirty years now, after losing over 100 pounds, and it was the single most important thing that’s happened in my life. It changed everything for me, and it could for you. Read my book or listen to my audiobook to learn how.

Quit looking for easy, magical ways to solve your weight problem. As long as you do, you’ll avoid learning what you need to do to be successful, and you’ll stay overweight and unhappy like I was.

If you develop the right habits using behavioral techniques like I teach, it will eventually become easy, your new normal behavior, as natural and easy as the habits you have now, only they will keep you fit rather than making you fat. It’s not done with “will power” or just “making up your mind”. It’s done with the science of the mind.

Are There Any Weight Loss Products That Really Work?

(The author is a psychotherapist who lost 140 lbs. when he discovered his unique method, and he’s kept it off for over 30 years. Read about his method of fast permanent weight loss by clicking on the book cover to the right.)

YES! There are some great “weight loss products” that helped me lose 140 pounds permanently, and I’ll list them below.

1) I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray

Veggies are low in calories and very filling, but without a topping, they can be bland and boring. Butter and fatty sauces can make them taste great, but are loaded with calories. This spray “butter” adds next to nothing! There is less than one calorie per squirt! Ten squirts are less than ten calories, and your veggies are covered with a tasty buttery glaze! It will make any vegetable better.

 2) Egg Beaters

If you’re not paying attention, breakfast can be the highest calorie meal of the day, especially if you eat out, often over 1000 calories. Eggs are a good choice for breakfast because they are high in protein and will suppress your appetite, but they have lots of cholesterol, and they’re 75 calories each. The eggs substitutes are half the calories and no cholesterol! So, you can have the equivalent of two scrambled eggs and a piece of diet toast for a little over 100 calories! Add a real egg to the mix to improve the texture, or make it a veggie omelet, and you are still very low in calories, and it will keep you fueled and satisfied all morning.

3) Walden Farms zero calorie salad dressings

Two tablespoons of their balsamic vinaigrette is less than five calories, so I can make a big salad with lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, and peppers for about fifty calories total. I can have that with a Michael Angelo lasagna, a 4oz. hamburger with bun or a lamb chop, and have a very decent low calorie meal. Walden Farms makes six different “zero calorie” dressings (they get to label a serving zero if it is less than 5 calories), though the one I like is the balsamic vinaigrette. Clients have liked the others and you might too!

4) Low calorie frozen dinners

“Fast food” has become the staple for families with both parents working. It saves time and trouble, but it’s making us obese. There is a good alternative you can stock your freezer with, ready to eat in 5 minutes – Frozen dinners. Today we have an array of very decent frozen dinners from Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Smart Ones, Kashi and others that appeal to the senses as well as the caloric budget. Many of these offerings are less than 300 calories and are great to have in the freezer when your plan to prepare the perfect fresh meal goes awry. They are also good to have at work for lunch.

5) Diet Soda Pop

I know diet soda has gotten a bad reputation, but it’s been a life saver for me. Water doesn’t appeal to me to have with lunch, and sugared soda and juices are loaded with calories. I know diet soda is not good nutrition, but I have seen no real science that backs up the scary stories saying it is so bad. My main health problem was obesity, and diet soda is one of the most important products that has helped me to achieve my ideal weight, excellent health and maintain them for over 30 years. I’d have died years ago if I hadn’t gotten rid of that surplus 140 pounds. I’m not afraid of diet soda. It’s helped save my life.

*   *   *   *   *

There are lots of other foods that you’ll discover that are great “weight loss products”. For instance, if you start looking up the calories in regular food, you’ll find that a good old-fashioned hot dog and bun with mustard, relish and onions is less than 300 calories! I often had one for lunch as I lost 140 lbs.! I’ve maintained my ideal weight for over 25 years now, and I still have hot dogs regularly!

Permanent weight loss is within everyone’s grasp, and my book will teach you what you need to do to succeed. There is work involved, but if you’ve gotten through high school, you’ve done a lot more and a lot harder work than you’ll need to do to solve your weight problem. If you really want to solve your weight problem and you’re willing to do some reasonable work, you are ready to succeed. Read my book or listen to my audiobook.

One Breakfast Here Will Make You Lose Weight. The Other Will Make You Fat. Which One Is For You?

 

(The author is a psychotherapist who lost 140 lbs. when he developed his unique method, and he’s kept it off for over 30 years. Read about it in his book at the right, or listen to his audiobook, free sample provided here.)

Pictured above is one of the breakfasts I had regularly while I lost 140 pounds. Its only 200 calories. It tastes great, made up of my favorite foods, keeps me going all morning, and at 1/8th of the breakfast pictured below, had me shedding pounds like crazy. Now, to maintain my loss, I eat more than the 200 calorie breakfast above, but still only a fraction of the American norm that is making people obese and sick.

meat lovers omlette

This above is Denny’s Meat Lovers’ Omelette at a whopping 1730 calories. That’s the kind of thing I used to pick that made me over 300 pounds. Think about that. 200 calories versus 1730. No wonder we have an obesity epidemic.

To lose weight, you need to learn how to eat what you like, not go on a diet.

For years I have resisted giving my clients food plans or telling them what to eat. Instead, I teach them how to succeed. I know how to help people be successful at weight loss, and its almost always contrary to what they think should be done. They think they need to follow some diet and exercise plan that some personal trainer or dietician will prescribe. Nope. They need to train in methods of behavioral science. I can guarantee that my client will lose weight if they follow me.

Clients who have trained in my method and people who have read my book know that the secret to success is learning how to eat what you like and learning the behavioral techniques that change the way you think and act habitually. Success does not come from diets and exercise plans that you know will come to an end when you want to live normally again.

To learn what I teach, read my book or listen to my audiobook, pictured at the upper right.

How I Lost 140 Pounds and Kept It Off For Three Decades

I was put on my first diet at the age of seven, and things went downhill from there. I became a  yo-yo dieter, gaining more every year, until, at the age of 33 and 330 pounds, I finally discovered the formula for success.

Then, in 1984, as a behavior therapist and addictions counselor, I discovered methods in behavioral psychology that enabled me to solve my weight problem for good. I lost 140 pounds, and I have maintained an ideal 180 lbs. ever since, for over 30 years. You may not have that much to lose, but  thousands of clients and readers have learned to apply my methods to solve their weight problem. Like learning to ride a bike or play the piano it’s not effortless, but there is no maybe about it. It works. I have never had a client not lose weight following what I teach.

I have volumes of information here at my website and I’ve written a book, now an eBook and audiobook, (listen to a sample of it here) that explains everything I teach my clients. I hope it can help you too.

Here’s some of what I learned:

1) To lose and manage weight, it requires more than just learning about the calories in food and what your body needs. You need to learn how to program yourself and master that part of yourself that manufactures your desires, urges, habits and feelings.

2) Acquiring the right habits is not a matter of intellect and will power. It is a result of training and conditioning in technique from the behavioral sciences. It is a matter of learning how to reprogram yourself, your habits and your feelings.

3) Diets and exercise crusades don’t work. Doing something for a while, even if you lose weight, and then going back to “normal”, will make you worse, not better.

4) Success comes not from denying yourself pleasure and good food, but by forming habits that are more pleasurable, with food that you really like that causes you to become healthy and fit instead of overweight.

You can become successful at permanent weight loss.

Bill Anderson, creator of “The Anderson Method”, before and after his 140 lb. weight loss.

I have volumes of information here at my website (check the “Table of Contents” at the bottom left of the page) and I’ve written a book, now an eBook and audiobook, that explains everything I teach my clients. I hope it can help you too.

This story was first published on ThriveGlobal.com

How Much Should You Weigh?

Is “Ideal Body Weight” important? What about the BMI?

weight loss chart

I was not always the “Weight Loss Guru” who lost 140 pounds and kept it off for 30 years. Before I discovered how to succeed with permanent weight loss and wrote The Anderson Method, I was and out-of-control overeater for several decades, getting worse with each diet failure.

I’d have a moment of truth on a regular basis, usually after some health crisis. “This time I really mean it,” I’d say. “I gotta lose weight.” One time, as I approached age 30, I was in the doctor’s office on a follow-up to a “medical event” due to my weight. I was around 300 pounds after years of yo-yo dieting, and this serious health crisis in my late twenties really scared me. I was determined to change, I swore to the doctor.

“What weight do you think you should be?”, the doctor asked.

I thought for a moment and said “I’d be happy at 225”.

“No!”, he said. “You need to be under 185! 225 is way too much.” He handed me his dietician’s diet and sent me home feeling defeated even before I started.

Ignore people telling you what to weigh. Dismiss them. It’s not their body or their life. It’s none of their business!

That doctor was a jerk. And he weighed about 250 himself! He did me no favors discouraging me. Weighing 225 would have been a lot better than weighing 300. He might have helped if he had been encouraging. He discouraged me when I was open to change and set me back. I tried his dietician’s diet for about a day and gave up, like all the other times. I hated it, felt hopeless, and continued my unhealthy ways.

Sometime later, I learned how to succeed at permanent weight loss through principles he and his dietician knew nothing about. One of the important things I learned is that to be successful, you’ve got to work to be the weight you want to be, with foods and behavior patterns that you prefer, not someone else.

Pick a weight that you think you’d be happy with, and shoot for that. When you get there, you can decide if you want to lose more. That’s what I did, and it worked out fine.

You can become any weight you want to be, if it’s what YOU want.

You can’t lose weight to make someone else happy. You’ve got to do it for yourself. You’ve got to do it in ways you can live with.

I discovered methods to lose weight that are guaranteed to work when you learn and apply them, no if, ands or buts. They are based on the irrefutably reliable sciences of physiology and thermodynamics, and I discovered the psychotherapeutic techniques to make them possible to apply. Because I was doing it for myself, with my own chosen goals, foods, and eating patterns, I was able to muster the power to achieve them.

Don’t buy into “Ideal Body Weight” worship.

Ideal body weight” was an idea cooked up by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1943 and embraced by the medical community. You saw it on that chart at the doctor’s office. It had the height and weight listed, and the standards we were all held to. It was developed as a result of actuarial studies that determined at what weight we had the lowest morbidity and mortality, what the very healthiest weight was for our height and frame size. There were also simple formulas that more or less coincided with the correlations the Metlife statistics revealed, changing a bit here and there over the years. Roughly, they equated to: 1) For women: 100 pounds for the first 5 feet of height, plus 5 pounds per inch over 5 feet, and 2) For men- 106 pounds for the first 5 feet of height plus 6 pounds per inch over 5 feet.

You’ll notice (perhaps with horror, as I did) that these are really skinny weights! At 320 pounds, I could not even imagine myself at 180 or so. Most of my 5’4″ female clients are in shock when they hear they “should” weigh 120. They just about give up hope hearing that.

The reality is that you do not have to be the “Ideal Body Weight” to be healthy. Many people who are 20% or more above their IBW are perfectly healthy. Get to the weight you’d be happy with and then go to your doctor and find out what your bloodwork and vitals say. See what he or she says about your health at that weight. The heck with the ideal. Get to a happy weight. If the doctor says you need to lose more, ask why, and ask for the evidence that says it’s healthier. We know that real obesity, 150% of the IBW or more, is unhealthy, but the weight you’d be happy with? Where’s the proof that it is not OK?

How about BMI, the “Body Mass Index” that is used today?

The BMI is another measure that I can’t stand. The BMI chart says I’m overweight at 6′ and 184 lbs.! An insult! It says my 5’4″ client is overweight at 128 lbs.! What an outrage!

Honestly, do we need these charts to tell if we need to lose weight? To be healthier? To be happier? I don’t think so.

Forget thinking you need to be at the weight the charts say. The heck with them. Just think about the weight you’d like to be, what weight you’d be happy with. Follow me, and you’ll get there. Then you can decide if you want to lose more weight. That’s what I did. With the right approach, using real science, reaching a healthy happy weight and maintaining it is absolutely possible, even enjoyable!